Sara Lombardi Named Director of UMD’s Biological Sciences Undergraduate Program

/ 1 July 2024 /

Sara Lombardi was selected to direct the University of Maryland’s biological sciences undergraduate program, which includes 1,500 students and ranks second on campus for the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded annually.

Sara Lombardi. Photo courtesy of same.

Lombardi joined UMD in 2014 as a lecturer in the Department of Biology and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2019 and to principal lecturer earlier this year. She also served as biology’s director of undergraduate programs from 2022 to 2024.

“Dr. Lombardi has been an active participant in the administration of the biological sciences major for a long time, having served on various advisory committees and as the director of undergraduate studies in biology,” said Joshua Singer, chair of the Department of Biology. “She knows the students and the faculty well, and she has an excellent understanding of the strengths of the major and of the challenges that it faces. I’m very much looking forward to working with her as she leads the biological sciences major into a new phase of its existence.”

In her new role, Lombardi will work with leaders and faculty members in the Departments of Biology, Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, and Entomology to assess curriculum needs, update the major’s requirements, recruit new students and ensure courses have faculty to teach them.

“It is an exciting time to lead the Biological Sciences Undergraduate Program,” Lombardi said. “The newly reorganized program provides an opportunity to rethink biological sciences undergraduate education and create an interdisciplinary major grounded in inclusivity, innovation, excellence and collaboration.”

Biological sciences majors select one of the following specializations: general biology, cell biology and genetics, ecology and evolution, microbiology, physiology and neurobiology, and individualized studies. The students learn the foundations and applications of biology from molecules, genomes and cells to organisms and ecosystems.

Sara Lombardi holding a Diamondback Terrapin in BSCI 473: Marine Ecology. Photo courtesy of same.

“I am excited to work with the departments of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, Entomology, and Biology, with their 100-plus faculty spanning expertise across biological scales of organization and taxa to recruit and train diverse scientific leaders of tomorrow,” Lombardi added.

Among other campus service, Lombardi has served on the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences’ Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council since its inception in 2020 and on the college’s Programs, Curriculum and Courses Committee since 2023. She is currently a member of the ADVANCE PTK Women in Leadership network and was previously an ADVANCE Leadership Fellow (2020-21), ADVANCE Professional-Track Faculty Fellow (2017-18), Fearless Teaching Research Fellow (2017-18) and Elevate Fellow (2015-16).

She received a Teaching and Learning Transformation Center programmatic grant in 2022 to develop global change biology courses for the biological sciences major, a Teaching Innovation Grant in 2020 to redesign BSCI 201/202 “Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II,” and a Fearless Teaching Research Seed Grant in 2017.

Lombardi earned her Ph.D. in marine estuarine environmental sciences from UMD and her bachelor’s degree in biology and marine science with a secondary emphasis in education from Juniata College in Pennsylvania.